


Up In Flames

by merdel11



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Yuri Plisetsky, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov are Yuri Plisetsky's Parents, M/M, Minor Character Death, Overworking, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Vent Work, Yuri Plisetsky's Nickname Is Yurio, but basically his dads, but it’s not any main characters so that part won’t be very bad, but it’s only mentioned don’t worry, but nothing that’s actually inflicted, its only mentioned really, the story may be wrapped around this, vent - Freeform, very light mention of self inflicted injuries or suicide, yuri and victor are Yurio’s friends, yurio is nineteen, yurio overworks himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 05:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20522882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merdel11/pseuds/merdel11
Summary: Yurio knew he was pushing it. He knew he was putting a lot of strain on his body and he knew his muscles probably couldn’t take any more physical excursion for one day. He knew that he was going to mess up his steps or footing or jumps sometime soon and fall, most likely hard, onto the ice. But, it was Yurio. He wasn’t going to stop.The blonde didn’t actually know how long he’d been at it. Was it two, three hours? Or was it four? Yurio had no clue. All he wanted was to work steam off and that was what he was doing. Figure skating just happened to be what he always turned to to accomplish that. It has always been a stress reliever for him, even when he was just a little boy. Truly, it has been one of the few things that have kept him sane these past years; the only thing that kept his head clear; the only thing that kept him focussed when the world seemed to be going up in flames around him and he was in the middle of the destruction.





	Up In Flames

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH! Hello again! I recently did this for a group on Amino, so I thought why not post it, am I right? I hope you enjoy!

**Up In Flames**

Yurio knew he was pushing it. He knew he was putting a lot of strain on his body and he knew his muscles probably couldn’t take any more physical excursion for one day. He knew that he was going to mess up his steps or footing or jumps sometime soon and fall, most likely hard, onto the ice. But, it was Yurio. He wasn’t going to stop.

_ Step left, step right, pivot on pick_.

The one thing Yurio didn’t know was how it was possible to stay on the ice for this long without getting kicked off. That was a feat in and of itself as the staff here weren’t sticklers for people who stayed on longer than they were given time to. But, no one has chastised him yet so, frankly, Yurio didn’t care.

_ Glide, crossover, one, two._

The blonde didn’t actually know how long he’d been at it. Was it two, three hours? Or was it four? Yurio had no clue. All he wanted was to work steam off and that was what he was doing. Figure skating just happened to be what he always turned to to accomplish that. It has always been a stress reliever for him, even when he was just a little boy. Truly, it has been one of the few things that have kept him sane these past years; the only thing that kept his head clear; the only thing that kept him focussed when the world seemed to be going up in flames around him and he was in the middle of the destruction.

_Left foot step, right foot step, pivot._

That analogy hit Yurio unexpectedly hard. It seemed more true these days than it would’ve last year, hell, maybe just two months ago. Everything around him seemed to be going up in flames and he had no idea how to extinguish them. _Not since grandpa was hospitalised._

_Slide, pick spin, left foot._

Disorientation. That’s what it felt like. All around him was screaming. Screaming, yelling, shouting, all incoherent noise that he couldn’t make out for the life of him. And Yurio was one with the disorder. Screaming, screaming, screaming for help. To clear the intruding smoke from his lungs that was suffocating, _suffocating. He felt like he was suffocating._ To relieve him of the irritation in his eyes that was _from the smoke damnit, _because, _no_, he will not admit it felt more like a sting of tears, and _no,_ the feeling of choking is not from forcing his sobs down. It’s from something else, obviously. _Obviously._

_ Backwards, backwards, turn._

The thing was, no one heard him. Yurio’s pleas and frustrations just blended into the other noises around him: the cackling flames, the creaking building, the wail of sirens. There was too much noise and Yurio’s voice, no matter how much his vocal chords started to ache and no matter how loud he yelled, was just tuned out into the white noise of the background, just unnoticed, fluttering through the air like a paper cup in a hurricane.

_ Tuck, glide, spin_.

Everything around Yurio seemed to be in shambles. Mayhem. Disorder. Havoc. The burning frame around him was starting to collapse now; the ceiling was caving in and debris started to fall. If Yuuri wasn’t careful the flaming wood might drop on him too and would be permanently pinned by the weight like so many around him have. _Like grandpa_, Yurio’s thoughts supplied with ease, unknowing how the ceiling dropped an inch more at the thought. Or maybe Yurio’s thoughts did know and just liked to toy with him. No one could really know the answer to that.

_ Straighten, one, two, jump._

Yurio’s grandpa wasn’t pinned under fallen debris, though, the boy had to remind himself. The man passed as light as a feather, resigned to the fact that the end was neigh but accepting it all the same. Instead, Yurio’s grandpa cherished every last moment he had with his family and let Death take him willingly. The wood that had pinned countless others down missed him and instead the older man found his way out of the burning house entirely, a feat everyone dreamed of but only few held the power to accomplish. Yurio’s grandpa passed to natural causes, _old age_ the doctor, Ms. Something-Or-Other, had told the blonde. Even though that way is a better way to go than how many others have fallen to the hands of Death—disease, the unfortunate other end of someone’s cruel mind, or even their own hands—the words still felt like a knife to the gut. It _still _feels like a knife to the gut. I guess that’s reasonable, though, as it has been only a couple hours.

_Spin once, spin twice—_

And land.

But just as the building around him seemed to, he collapsed, fell, and _hard,_ to the unyielding ice. Yurio tilted his skate too far forward, and instead of landing gracefully and skating off, his pick had dug into the cold surface below him and threw him to the ground. Normally, had it been any other day, Yurio would’ve gotten up right away, bounced back to his feet like he always did, and shake it off. But today was different. Today had been too exhausting, too demanding. So, instead of getting right back up on his feet, Yurio, Russia’s mighty tiger, laid there, trembling, tired and breathing heavily. He could sense, _feel, _the ceiling falling, the unbearable heat rushing closer and closer and then—

“Yurio!” a familiar voice exclaimed, panicked. Yurio thought distantly that the yell felt like it was answering his pleas.

The boy heard the recognisable scraping of shoes on ice—two pairs he noted at the back of his mind—and felt the comfortable warmth of a hand on his shoulder. Yurio could see two faces he has come well accustomed to over the years, one with grey hair and a fringe and the other with a strong but kind face with glasses, block his vision of the rest of the rink. Both had worry and. . . was that relief?—etched across them. What were they doing here?

“God, Yurio,” Yuuri sighed, “we were so worried about you. Viktor and I couldn’t find you anywhere and you weren’t answering your phone.” Yurio finally started to feel the cold of the ice start to seep into his skin and he could feel the wetness dampen his clothing.

“We thought you may be at Otabek’s,” Viktor cut in, “but when we called, he said he hasn’t seen you since last night and then we heard the news and checked the hospital but you weren’t there either so we—“

Yurio broke. He pushed himself off the ice, aching muscles and sore body be damned, and rammed into Viktor and Yuuri both, arms wrapped around them as best as Yurio could. The sobs he had been holding back took over his entire body and the dam of tears finally cracked, shattering to pieces as the salty liquid finally escaped. Yurio burrowed his face into the soft fabric of Viktor’s coat and through his hazy mind, breathed in the sent of hot chocolate and wet dog.

Once their shock wore off, Yurio finally felt two sets of arms wrap around his small frame. He couldn’t help but think that they were protecting him from the crumbling ceiling.

Yurio came to a realisation after several minutes of soothing hands carding through his hair and comforting words drifting through the air. He has always thought that once the roof above him started to fall, there was no stopping it, no way to stop the ineffable. He was wrong though. So, so wrong. Even if the flaming wood is falling and the frame around him is deteriorating, there is still always hope. You can still duck out of the way, you can still find shelter somewhere else and if you’re lucky, someone will be there to ground you, to help you extinguish the falling flame or maybe push you out of the way. And, if worst comes to worse, if the ceiling does fall on you and you can do nothing to stop, nothing to prevent it from happening; if the weight crushes you, makes you want to give up, all hope is not lost. You can still give it your all and push. Take it to yourself and dig your spirit out of the rubble. Be creative and extinguish the fire with water, sand, foam, if that’s what it takes, because even if you deny it, if you have made it this far in life, you’re a fighter, a warrior, and warriors don’t give up that easily.

_Grandpa didn’t find a way out of the burning house but instead extinguished the flames for that building was not just a house but a home. He had made peace._

Yurio signed himself to an agreement as the sobs turned into silent tears and the grip on his friends loosened. An agreement with himself; if Yurio had made it this far, a whole 19 years of existence, why not live for another 19 more? Yurio was never one to give up, no one in his family was, biological or created. Like his grandpa who fought until it was his time or Yuuri who fought to beat Viktor in the Grand Prix, and he’d be damned if he tarnished the Plisetsky name.

Yurio finds a friendly warmth in the hands that lift him up and off the rink, that untie his skates and help him put on his shoes, guide him outside of the complex and to the car and then to their, Viktor and Yuuri’s, shared apartment. Yurio finds such a caring and homely embrace with it that it makes him want to cry. Again. If Yurio’s being honest with you, he probably did. It felt so different than the flames consuming him not even half an hour before, so wonderful. Yurio never thought he could discover such a lovely feeling in someone or someones that weren’t his lover. He can’t find another word for it but gratefulness. Yurio couldn’t feel more grateful.

The flames around him have died down significantly, so much so that they couldn’t be classified as a raging fire anymore. More like a bonfire than anything; the ceiling didn’t seem as threatening as it did before; the walls around didn’t seem like they were going to collapse anytime soon. The fight wasn’t over though. The raging flames will come back someday, whether that be tomorrow or ten years from now. The fight will never truly be over and there will always be relapse, but when that time comes, Yurio will be ready to fight. He’s a firefighter after all. It’s in his job description. It’s nothing to worry about anyways, Yurio could tackle it.

And just like that, he was taken into the blissful arms of sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I have been trying to improve my writing with your guys’ criticism, so I hope you can seem improvement in my work.
> 
> This was also sort of a vent and got really into it. I’ve been dealing with some stuff so this really helped. 
> 
> If you have any constructive criticism, don’t hesitate to comment it down below!
> 
> Have an amazing day! <3


End file.
